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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Tutorial: Flower Girl Bendy Dolls

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a bag full of embroidery thread from the op shop. In the bag, there were 3 artificial flowers with no stems. So I decided to have a go at making some flower girl dolls. And I'm really pleased with how they turned out, so sweet, Miss Autumn and Miss Spring. The other flower is a green one, maybe Miss Summer?

To make a doll, you'll need a flower, with the stem removed, a bendy doll - small size, about 10cm high, a piece of wool felt, some wool roving for the hair, and some thread.

First job is to give her some stockings, not totally necessary, but guarantee, someone will look under her skirt, and it's nice for her to have pretty legs!! So bend one leg out of the way, and put a little bit of glue on one leg, smear it around to cover all sides.

Start with the end of the thread around mid leg, then take it to the bottom and start winding UP the leg, covering the end of that thread. When you get to the top, just glue the end down.

Repeat with the other leg.

Now take your flower and remove the middle piece. The back and front should easily pull apart.

Note that you have a few layers of small petals and a few layers of larger petals. Remove the small petals and put them aside for now. They will become her hat.

Cut across the middle of the flower, just big enough to fit around the dolls waist, about an inch.

Now put the her feet through the hole you just cut, one at a time. It will be a tight fit, but it WILL fit! Then pull it up over her waist. You can glue it if you like, but if it is a tight fit, it won't be going anywhere.

Now for her top. I cut this very basic pattern. The side bits are the sleeves, so adjust them according to the length you want. For a summer doll I would probably go sleeveless.

Cut a slit down through the centre just big enough to fit over her head, about an inch long. And embellish her top to your liking.

Now place the top over her head and sew the bottoms of the sleeves together. You can also sew the sides of the top together, I chose not to.

For her hair...Glue your piece of wool roving onto her head.

Now take those smaller petals that you set aside earlier... sew a small piece of felt over the middle to hide the hole....and sew the little flower with a couple of stitches to her hair for a hat.